► New range-topping Q1s revealed
► We reveal SQ1 and RS Q1
► Audi prepares baby SUV for 2016
Audi will crown the new Q1 range, now confirmed for launch in 2016, with a pair of rabidly fast pocket-rocket soft-roaders: the SQ1 and RS Q1.
We’ve already published numerous stories lifting the lid on the new 2016 Q1, but now we’ve had sight of plans for the range-toppers.
Specs and details of Audi SQ1 and RS Q1
While many enthusiasts might deplore Audi’s rather predictable addition of go-faster models to its new small SUV range, Ingolstadt is confident there is a small niche of buyers demanding go-faster small crossovers.
It is these performance/posing-obsessed buyers the SQ1 and RS Q1 are aimed at.
Waiting in the wings is the brawny SQ1 2.0 TDI powered by a twin-turbo four good for 231bhp and 368lb ft. This follows the SQ5 diesel-only formula set by the warmed-up Q5 crossover.
And the RS Q1?
The ultimate range-topping soft-roader hasn’t yet been approved, but CAR’s sources reveal it is very much on the cards.
Engineering is currently proposing the RS Q1 uses a high-power turbocharged petrol engine: the 2.0 TFSI from the TTS, tuned here for some 310bhp/280lb ft.
While the Q1 is scheduled to go on sale in Europe in early 2016, we’re not expecting it to be exported to the likes of the US until 2018.
Perfectly timed to take advantage of these go-faster Q1s, arriving a little later in the product cycle to keep up interest, we’d say…